Female Academics Less Satisfied Than Male Counterparts

Differences in job satisfaction between men and women in academia exist, but vary across disciplines, a new study shows.

Untenured assistant professors at research universities in physical sciences and humanities reported being most satisfied with their positions, whereas those in education and visual and performing arts reported being least satisfied, according to a study released Monday by The Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education.

But greater discrepancies were seen when job satisfaction was split between the sexes. Differences in satisfaction between men and women were largest in social sciences.

Whereas those in the humanities were most satisfied with their work, men rated four survey dimensions — clarity of the sense of achieving tenure; number of hours worked as a faculty member; amount of time given to conduct research; and ability to balance between professional and personal time — significantly higher than women. Women, on the other hand, only rated one survey dimension — effectiveness of stop-the-clock — significantly higher than men.

In the social sciences, women only rated one dimension significantly higher than men, but men rated 36 dimensions — including how well they fit in; satisfaction with the department as workplace; and reasonableness of expectations as a teacher and scholar — significantly higher than women.

Studies have shown that across academia, men are generally more satisfied with their work than women — a similar trend is seen across academic disciplines.

Breaking down job satisfaction by academic fields offers a more detailed examination of gender differences, and the results suggest that “the gender differences seem not to be a function of a lack of a ‘critical mass’ of women in certain fields,” according to a statement Monday.

In the survey, led by the Harvard Graduate School of Education, women reported less satisfaction with reasonableness of scholarship expectations for tenure, whether their institutions make raising children and the tenure track compatible and the way they spend their time as faculty, among others.

“The fact that these differences cut across disciplines and, in fact, are most evident in disciplines in which women are relatively well represented is important to keep in mind as the associations that represent and support faculty look to address this problem,” COACHE Research Director Cathy Trower said in a statement.

The study had 9,512 faculty participants and categorized data across 12 academic areas and considered 83 survey dimensions.

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